Baby no. 4, Peter George Clare arrived on the 4th march 2003 weighing 6lb 140z. He is absolutely gor...
Baby no. 4, Peter George Clare arrived on the 4th march 2003 weighing 6lb 140z. He is absolutely gorgeous but very time consuming so I won`t be writing again for quite a while.
Member since:24.03.2001
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Firstly, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone at Ciao a great christmas and a very prosperous new year.
I read a really good opinion on dooyoo which basically said that this book was not worth the paper it was printed on. Now usually I tend to follow this sort of advice, so when somebody says a book really is not worth reading then I won`t read it. This time though I just had to test it myself as I`m a huge fan of Dean Koontz, having read every single one of his books, and sometimes reading some of them a second time, I`ve not been disappointed by any of them.
I have to say I wasn`t disappointed by this one either. It is rather a long story covering all of 819 pages, but as usual the writing style of Mr Koontz kept me gripped throughout.
Because of the way it`s written, it`s not the sort of book you can start reading then pick up and carry on two weeks later. The story centres around several peoples lives and will keep jumping from one person`s story to the next, so unless you follow it closely you`ll forget what`s happened in the last chapter.
However I love this type of writing style because it will leave one person`s life with something gripping about to happen, then move onto the life of somebody different, making you read really fast till the story gets back to the previous person and you can pick up where you left off. What makes this book even better in my opinion though, is that you don`t find out how each of the characters are linked to one another until
fairly close to the end. With a story like this you are forever tring to figure out the link yourself as you`re reading, and with some books this is quite an easy task but with this one it is not.
The title, `From the corner of his eye`, is actually taken from a paragraph about 3/4 of the way through the book. The main character of the book is Bartholomew Lampion, known by everyone as Barty. An exceptionally clever little boy whose sight is suddenly taken away from him by cancer.
Although I wouldn`t really describe the story as a true horror one, the tale of little barty`s rise from baby to child is more fantasy, as he doesn`t exactly follow the norm as far as child development goes.
The next main character worth mentioning is Junior Cain, a physiotherapist and part-time psycopath, this soon turns around though as he promotes himself to full-time psycopath.
Mr Cain enters the story by killing his wife and putting himself in hospital as a result. I won`t reveal what exactly he ends up in hospital for, but for this part and the parts of MR Cain`s other illnesses the writing does get pretty descriptive, and not nice descriptive either.
While in hospital Junior dreams of the name Bartholomew, from this and other events he comes to the conclusion that Bartholomew must be the child that resulted from him raping one of his physio patients, and makes it his purpose to find this child and destroy him. Junior however has jumped to the wrong conclusion, this part is made clear from fairly early on so I`m not giving the game away. Although the rape did produce a child, the baby in question was female, and as with other parts of the story, you won`t find out how Barty and the baby girl are linked until quite close to the end of the book.
Junior`s hunt for destruction is also hampered by the apparent haunting of a police officer named Vanadium who he thought he had killed. Vanadium is also connected to Barty, although he doesn`t realise this until he meets Paul Damascus in sad circumstances. Tom Vanadium also has a special gift, but up until now he though he was the only one who possessed anything like it.
After the death of his beloved Perri all Paul could do was walk. Up to a point of no return, Paul`s walking had never had a destination in mind until he thought back to the letter he had written to Harrison White regarding Agnes Lampion.
Agnes Lampion, known as Barty`s mother but known by even more as the pie lady, was a magnificent woman. Not because of her son or because she had any strange powers, but because the size of her heart and the kindness she spread to the more unfortunate made her very special to a lot of people.
Even Agnes only knew a part of the incredible gift that Barty had been given, despite the fact that what she knew already was more than she could undestand fully herself.
Along came an angel, a little girl named angel that has more meaning to her name than even her own mother realises. Born through the most violent of circumstances, she was the sweetest girl who looked as though she was going to follow closely in Celestina`s footsteps. Celestina isn`t the girl`s natural mother but as close as anyone could be. Just at the start of a promising career as an artist, Celestina`s world suddenly starts collapsing around her with more devastation that surely one man can`t produce on his own.
This is the point where Cain thinks his bad luck is about to end, but even he can`t know that it`s only just beginning and it`s going to get worse, a lot worse.
Some people prefer a story to be direct and short, but I love Dean Koontz`s long winded approach to writing. The way he goes into great detail about all the characters and the landscapes really gives you an insight into all the people in his novels and all the places that they visit, it`s much easier to imagine that you`re there and really get into the story. This book is no exception to the case, I could almost picture Barty as though he were stood in front of me, and couldn`t wait to find out what happened to him next and what effect he had upon the people that he met.
The detailed descriptions of Cain and his obsessions, strengths and weaknesses are what add an edge to the story, just when you think you`ve got him sussed he goes one step further to prove that he`s totally evil.
As good as I usually am at guessing the ending to a story, and most story ending are fairly predictable, this one I definitely wasn`t expecting as it was extemely out of the ordinary.
I`ve only described to you a small section from this brilliant novel, as to tell you more would spoil the magical moments, and there are some truly magical moments. Follow Barty`s life closely for you`ll never know what to expect next.
You can pick up this exceptional book from most major book stores priced £6.99. Don`t worry I haven`t just compromised my tightarse reputation as I got it with my ipoints so it didn`t cost me a penny.
ISBN: 0-7472-6680-8
Ps. Unless you`ve read the book you won`t understand the title, so don`t waste time trying to figure it out ;0)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Its a great review but i find you've put to many spoilers in , eg . junior killing naomi , as i found this bit really gripping and telling people now , the wont be shocked x
salt.n.pepper 31.03.2007 10:04
I'm a big DK fan
alliecat 04.04.2002 12:17
I read a negative opinion on this, too, but it's good to get the other side of the story..I think I'll give it a go and make up my own mind! Thanks.
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller,From ... more
the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain w...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller, ... more
From the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller,From ... more
the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain w...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller, ... more
From the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Dec 23rd, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
